Planting Trees and Building Community

Planting Trees and Building Community

The trees near the Stibnite Gold Project site have seen and been subjected to a lot over the years. Many were cut down and used to construct early mining facilities and homes for people working at the site. More recently, forest fires have ripped through hillsides around the site destroying the trees. Midas Gold is working to rehabilitate the area and since 2011 we have planted more than 45,000 new saplings.

We planted 5,000 lodgepole pine trees this fall. We could never plant this many trees on our own so we asked for help from students at Cascade High School, Meadow Valley School and the Boy Scouts. For every tree a group plants, we donate $1 to support their school or organization. This program has been a huge help for us and allows us to support worthy causes in Valley County.

Planting trees at site helps us to stabilize the soil conditions, provide more habitat for wildlife and reforest the region.

The lodgepole pine saplings we planted this year were grown from seeds we collected up at site. It is important to us that the trees we plant grow naturally in the area and fit into the ecosystem. Collecting our own seeds and working with Buffalo Berry Farms ensures we are being the best stewards of our land possible.

This is our sixth season of tree planting. The average size of a tree we plant is eight inches tall. Today, the first trees we ever planted stand at about 22 inches.